HAPPY NEW YEAR
Museum Opening Times
The Museum is open to the public, free of charge:
Thursday* to Saturday 10am – 1pm
December 100 Club
This month’s prize numbers were drawn by Wendy Adams & Ann Thomas, the lucky winners are:-
No. 7 Karen Pratley £20
No. 21 Margaret Lester £10
If you would like to join our 100 club and be in with a chance of winning, it costs just £1 a month. Ask at the museum for further details.
Annual Membership Reminder
It’s that time of year again when we ask you to renew your membership. This year the fee is £8 for standard membership and £25 for Vice Presidents and if you are a taxpayer, please come in and sign a Gift Aid declaration (if you have not already done so) so that we can claim another 25p for each pound given at no extra cost to you. Membership will entitle you to a free hot drink in our café each month and for under 16s there is our junior membership for £4 for the year which will include a free treasure hunt each month.
Christmas Fayre
Our Christmas Fayre last month went even better than hoped and we made just shy of £700 which will all help with the museum’s running costs. Thank you to everyone who donated items and thank you to everyone who attended including, of course, our volunteers who made it all possible. See below for winning raffle tickets etc.
Cardiff’s Uncovered Canal
If you’ve been to Cardiff recently you may have noticed a new feature just off Queen Street, in Churchill Way. When I say ‘new’ I use the term figuratively as, in reality, it has been there for 180 years but was built over in the 1940s. I’m talking of the Cardiff Dock Feeder Canal that has been two years in the uncovering.
In Victorian days Cardiff looked much different to how it does today. The city had a large network of canals to bring goods into the city, and was linked to the 25 mile long Glamorganshire canal, but by the end of Victoria’s reign, the railways had taken over much of the work of the canals leaving the canals redundant.
Since the opening of Saint David’s shopping centre, the Capital shopping centre, once a thriving part of the city centre, has become almost derelict and it is hoped this new water feature, which will form part of a bigger plan to create a ‘canal quarter’ in the city, will attract new businesses to this end of the city.
Photos thanks to Heather Hancock and Sarah Murphy.
To read more on this story, click here and here
London’s Soho Link to Wales
What possible link could there be between London’s Soho district and south Wales you may well ask…well many of the Neon signs lighting the area to this day were made by a local…
Richard Bracey, from Mountain Ash, worked in a mine in Tredegar in the 1940s but he hated it so, after the war ended, he made his way to London where he worked for a neon power company. By the 1950s he felt he had learned enough to set up his own company and he found a market for his neon signs in Soho. The company, now known as ‘God’s Own Junkyard’, is still going today and is now run by Richard’s grandson Matthew Bracey. The company has also made neon signs for films including the Stanley Kubrick film ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ as well as several ‘Batman’ movies and exports neon signs all over the world. As his grandson has pointed out, Richard Bracey went from working in the dark to working with light!
Read more here and here
New Year Quiz
Thought it would be nice to start this year with a look back at events from 2023. See how many you can answer (answers here):
1). What was the date of King Charles Coronation?
2). What was the code name given to the planning of the Coronation?
3). What crown did King Charles wear for his coronation?
4). Which UK city hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023?
5). Which country won the Eurovision song contest in 2023 and so will be hosting in 2024?
6). In September 2023 a very famous tree was illegally felled near Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland. What type of tree was it?
7). There were celebrations in London in January 2023 to celebrated the 160th birthday of what? (Clue - it was a world first!)
8). On 16th October 2023, what company celebrated their 100 year anniversary?
9). What was the biggest box office hit of 2023?
10). In the Chinese zodiac, what animal represented 2023?
11). What song made number one in the charts on Christmas Day 2023?
12). On 4th April, the Royal Mail issued the first stamps to feature King Charles III, but how much does a first class stamp now cost?
13). On 10th October 2023 a large fire destroyed dozens of cars at which airport?
14). In October 2023 who won the Rugby World Cup?
15). Who won the 2023 Turner Prize?
16). On 7th December 2023 it was announced that the TV licence will be increasing from 1st April 2024 to how much?
17). On 18th December a dress sold at auction for £904,262 but whose dress was it?
18). On 27th December 2023 the UK government announced that pint size bottles of what will soon be on sale in supermarkets?
19). In November, a row over what caused the PM to cancel a meeting with the Greek PM?
20). In December, which former Pope died aged 95?
21). Who won ‘I’m a Celebrity, get me out of here’ 2023?
22). Where did King Charles & family see in the New Year?
23). Which country won the Cricket World Cup in 2023?
24). Who was the most streamed singer of 2023?
25). What was most streamed song of 2023?
Christmas Stamps
If you sent or received Christmas cards this year you might have noticed this year’s Christmas designs are the first to feature King Charles. The first Christmas stamps were introduced in the UK in 1966 and hence every single Christmas stamp until now featured the late Queen Elizabeth making this year’s unique. And our stamps always feature the Monarch’s head in the top right hand corner facing left unlike our coins which varies from Monarch to Monarch. The UK not only invented the postage stamp (the Penny Black in 1840 with Queen Victoria’s profile) but is also the ONLY country in the world that does not have the name of the issuing country on it as our stamps are identified by the Monarch’s head.
Ukraine’s December Christmas
In a further move away from Russia, this year for the first time since 1917, Ukrainians celebrated Christmas on December 25th. Until now they have followed Russia and used the Julian (rather than the Gregorian calendar) date for Christmas Day which is 7th January.
Museum VP Honoured
One of the museum’s long-standing Vice Presidents has been named in the King’s New Year Honours list. Congratulations to the Reverend Roy Watson who receives the British Empire Medal for services to the community.
Christmas Raffle
The Christmas Raffle was drawn on 9th December and all winners have been notified. The winning ticket numbers are detailed below. The sweet jar contained 281 sweets and the winning Teddy Bear name was… Robert!
Prize |
Ticket no. |
Serial No. |
Hamper |
642 |
AB 681388 |
Bottle of Gin |
621 |
AB 681388 |
Christmas cake |
365 |
AD 213750 |
Hot chocolate Set |
571 |
AB 681388 |
Bottle of wine |
548 |
AB 681388 |
Candle |
354 |
AD 213750 |
Box of Biscuits |
567 |
AB 681388 |
Soft Toy |
558 |
AB 681388 |
Quiz answers
- 6th May
- Operation Golden Orb
- Edward Crown
- Liverpool
- Sweden (sung by Loreen)
- Sycamore
- London Underground
- Disney
- Barbie
- Rabbit
- Last Christmas (39 years after it was first released!)
- £1.25
- Luton airport
- South Africa
- Jesse Darling
- £169.50
- The late Diana, Princess of Wales.
- Still and sparkling wine
- Elgin Marbles
- Benedict 16th
- Sam Thompson (from ‘Made in Chelsea’).
- Sandringham
- Australia
- Taylor Swift
- Flowers by Miley Cyrus
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